Why stilettos are the secret to shapely legs

From bunions to back pain, high heels are blamed for all manner of ailments but, in a rare piece of good news, scientists say that stilettos can give you more shapely legs.

02 February 2011

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

A new study found that women who wore high heels activated their inner and outer calf muscles more evenly than those who wore flatter shoes, which gave their legs a more symmetrical appearance.

Flatter heels, as worn by half the subjects in the study, caused "lopsided" development, as the inner calf muscles were exercised more and grew larger, according to the findings published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Prof Anna Ahn, of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, said: "Similar to pulling a door closer to its hinge, the ankle must be extended by a greater force when muscles pull closer to the ankle joint with a shorter heel." She said that the thick inner calf muscles were activated for a longer duration to generate these higher forces at the ankle.

In the study, the researchers analysed 10 sedentary people - five men and five women - to ensure athletic training was not a factor in their performance.

In a separate study two years ago, Italian researchers found that moderately high heels could tone the pelvic muscles.

The study involved measuring electrical activity in the pelvic muscles of women when they held their feet at different angles. Those who held their feet at a 15-degree angle to the ground, the equivalent of a 2.75in heel, showed up to 15 per cent less electrical activity in their pelvic muscles.

The results suggested that the muscles were more relaxed when women wore higher heels, increasing their strength and ability to contract.